Pierce County Lake Quality

The county-level average smooths over real differences — a single agricultural watershed near the southwest corner can pull the average down even if the rest of the county runs clean. 2 of those lakes carry recent nutrient and algae readings. The county-level summary describes that subset, not every water body listed. The monitored lakes here are mostly shallow, productive basins where summer algae is common; each lake page shows its own readings beside the EPA condition class.

The county's lakes lean shallow, which makes the readings sensitive to wind, sediment-resuspension, and any nutrient inputs from the watershed. The cleanest measured lake is Buffalo Lake.